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Spray paint training and designing next-generation power plants don’t seem, at first glance, to have much to do with one another. But, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory recently partnered with the Iowa Waste Reduction Center at the University of Northern Iowa to improve spray paint training using a virtual engineering software toolkit. The software enhancements have recently won a regional Federal Laboratory Consortium award for applying federal developed technology to industry needs.

A team of researchers at the Ames Laboratory has answered a key question concerning the widely-used Fenton reaction – important in wastewater treatment to destroy hazardous organic chemicals and decontaminate bacterial pathogens and in industrial chemical production.   The naturally occurring reaction was first discovered in 1894 by H.J.H. Fenton, a British chemist at Cambridge, and involves hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and iron.

By blending optical and atomic force microscope technologies, Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory researchers have found a way to complete 3-D measurements of single biological molecules with unprecedented accuracy and precision. Existing technologies allow researchers to measure single molecules on the x and y axes of a 2-D plane. The new technology allows researchers to make height measurements (the z axis) down to the nanometer – just a billionth of a meter – without custom optics or special surfaces for the samples.

Mufit Akinc, an Ames Laboratory associate and a faculty member at Iowa State University since 1981, has been named interim dean of the College of Engineering effective July 30. He succeeds Jonathan Wickert, who will assume the role of senior vice president and provost at Iowa State on the same date.

Akinc is a professor of materials science and engineering and has led the college’s international engagement initiative since 2010. He also holds a courtesy appointment in chemical and biological engineering.